Be East Bay: January Events

The Harlem Globetrotters run circles around the competition. Plus, check out the History Mystery Tour aboard the USS Hornet and more.

By Mike Rosen Molina

Published: December 29, 2016

The Harlem Globetrotters bring their brand of basketball to the Oracle Arena on Jan. 14 and Jan. 21.

(page 1 of 2)

When you hear that familiar whistling refrain, you know what it means. The Harlem Globetrotters are in town.

The famous exhibition basketball team performs a leaping, twirling, ball-spinning spectacle to the famous strains of “Sweet Georgia Brown” as teammates show off extreme athleticism, precise ball control, and goofy humor on the court.

Since their start in 1920s and their heyday in the 1970s and ’80s, the Globetrotters—the original goodwill ambassadors for basketball—have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 122 countries and territories and continue to do about 450 live events annually. In all their competitions, they never fail to make the dribbling, breaks, weaves, and slam dunks look so easy. Their energy, antics, whacky sense of fun, and comedic timing make for fast-paced entertainment as they pass, juggle, and twirl basketballs at dizzying paces, sometimes running circles around the competition.

Events

Who knows what lurks in the shadows of the Hornet at night? The old ship stands quiet now, but rumors persist of ghosts in the rigging and spirits below deck. Spend the night aboard ship if you dare for the History Mystery Tour, and find out if they’re true. A Hornet crewmember leads an after-hours tour of the ship’s famous “paranormal hot-spots.”

Since the dawn of time, the greatest struggle, greater than man vs. man, greater than man vs. himself, has always been man vs. bull. The best bull riders compete at the PBR Velocity Tour to see who can cling to the back of a raging bovine the longest—maybe even up to eight whole seconds!

The biggest and best garage sale in Northern California returns to Oakland in March, but you can get an early taste this month at the White Elephant Preview Sale. Get a sneak peek at more than 96,000-square-feet worth of furniture, china, books, musical instruments, and more—classy collectibles and fun junk alike.

Food

The NASFT Winter Fancy Food Show isn’t just regular food; it’s fancy food—the sort of food that you need to eat while wearing a top hat and tails while keeping your pinky finger properly extended. The Fancy Food Shows are North America’s largest specialty food and beverage marketplace, with more than 1,300 food and beverage exhibitors from around the world at the annual SF show.

Literature

Zadie Smith’s debut novel White Teeth was written while she was still an undergraduate at Cambridge, and her follow-up works The Autograph Man, On Beauty, and NW have established her as one of the unique and powerful new voices in British literature. She talks about Swing Time, her latest work, and her life with City Arts & Lectures.

When the bodies of five murdered black people are discovered in this small Texas town, the newly elected chief of police clashes with the racist state trooper heading the investigation. Macavity Award-winning author Terry Shames explores small-town tensions in her latest book, An Unsettling Crime for Samuel Craddock. Shames will be in conversation with Susan Shea at this launch party.

Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale takes the stage with Oakland poet/playwright Chinaka Hodge at Two Generations of Black Struggle to talk about how the Black Panthers revolutionized political action and challenged police brutality in Oakland and throughout America in the ’60s and what the party’s legacy means in today’s America.

Watch the best local films made by the most outrageous local talent at the MMTB Studios Short Film Festival. This year’s lineup includes Gangster Grandma, Blind Dates R Us, and JD Awesomeheiver Goes Crazy. It sounds crazy awesome.

The Oakland Library uses the AAMLO Annual MLK Film Festival as a means of celebrating the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with a day of film looking back on King and the Civil Rights Movement, examining how far we’ve come as a
country, and how far we still have to go.

Music

In the Name of Love, Oakland’s annual musical tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., presents “Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On?” The concert highlights five outstanding vocalists, including Kenny Washington, Terrie Odabi, Will Russ Jr., Destani Wolf, and Luq Frank with Tammy Hall on piano, Marcus Shelby on bass, Sly Randolph on drums, John Santos on percussion, and Teo Avery on sax. The l 65-voice Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and the 300-voice Living Jazz Children’s Project will also perform. The Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award will be presented to an outstanding Oakland citizen. The tribute supports the Living Jazz Children’s Project, a free music education project for Oakland public elementary schools. It promises
to be a profound celebration of civil rights and an amazing evening of music.